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Rick Hendrick thrilled by Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s big year

Roots for association between famed owner, driver date back to Heartland Park Topeka

With Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the midst of the best year of his racing career, famed NASCAR owner Rick Hendrick can’t help but smile every time he thinks about how he and Junior reached their first contract agreement, at Heartland Park Topeka when Junior was barely a teenager.

Hendrick and Dale Earnhardt Sr. were both at HPT to race in a NASCAR trucks event and Junior was in Topeka with his dad when the first Hendrick-Earnhardt Jr. negotiations took place.

“He and I had a napkin contract when he was 14,” Hendrick said Wednesday during an appearance at Hollywood Casino in Kansas City, Kan. “We talk about that a lot.

“I remember (Junior) and I sitting in (Ken) Schrader’s bus and I said, ‘You want to be a race car driver?’ He said yeah and I said, ‘Well let’s go ahead and do a contract,’ and we signed it. We laugh about it now. I wish we could find that napkin, but we didn’t keep the napkin.”

The napkin contract was unofficial of course, but Hendrick and Junior made things official in 2007 (for the 2008 season) when Junior signed to join Hendrick’s powerhouse team, which also includes six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, four-time champ Jeff Gordon and Kasey Kahne.

Earnhardt struggled off and on after joining Hendrick, including a 25th-place points finish in ’09 and a 21st-place finish in ’10, but Junior has come into his own in 2014.

As the Sprint Cup series heads to Michigan this weekend, Earnhardt leads the standings by four points over teammate Gordon and has posted three victories with 10 top-five and 15 top-10 finishes in 22 starts.

Nobody is happier for Earnhardt than his car owner.

“It feels good to see him as happy as he is in life, with his girlfriend (Amy Reimann) and matured and having a year equal to anybody in the sport,” Hendrick said. “It’s just really good to see it for him and his fans to see him do well. There was a lot of pressure when he came over.

“This sport is so competitive right now and has been and chemistry is such an important part of any team and his confidence with (crew chief) Steve Letarte has been really strong. We came off of last year with a lot of momentum and, boy, this year he’s been there so much.”

Hendrick said he never doubted that Earnhardt would eventually have the success that’s come his way this season.

“We never gave up,” Hendrick said. “We knew he could do it and we just had to get all the parts and pieces right. It does feel good because I can go to a race without fans jumping me when I walk in, ‘When’s Dale going to win?’

“He’s matured so much. I think being around Jimmie and Jeff and those guys has helped him a lot.”

Hendrick and Junior have both had to deal with family tragedies, which has probably strengthened their relationship.

Junior’s famous father, a seven-time Cup champion, died after a crash in the Daytona 500 in 2001 and Hendrick’s son, Ricky, died in a plane crash in 2004.

“Dale and I have always been really close,” Hendrick said. “He and my son were very close. My son told me that he and Dale had talked about Dale driving for us and I said, ‘That’s never going to happen because he’ll probably drive for his dad.’ Well, his dad was killed and my son was killed.

“I think an awful lot of (Junior). I think he’s filled a void in my life and I’ve filled a void in his life.”

And as Earnhardt continues to pile up wins and top finishes, Hendrick thinks the year could have a storybook ending.

“It’s really good to see Junior in such a great spot,” Hendrick said. “I think this could be the year he could win the championship.”